LymeBlog - A Lymie's review of the movie LymeLife now on DVD and BluRay

LymeBlog News
Lexington, KY USA
By Mac McDonald, LymeBlog News Editor

When you see that Martin Scorsese is the Executive Producer of an independent film like "LymeLife" you know that it must be something special.

Photo: www.lymelifethemovie.com

* Win an autographed poster of the movie "LymeLife"
see details at the end of the article

"LymeLife" is billed as "A portrait of the American dream in 1970s Long Island, as seen through the eyes of a 15-year-old". The movie has won awards at festivals and received glowing reviews. Daily Variety says "Purely hilarious". "Tender and witty" says Screen Daily.

But how does the movie live up to having "Lyme" in the title to those who are all too familiar with that word?

I have chronic Lyme disease (some times we call ourselves Lymies) so when the movie "LymeLife" became available on DVD and BluRay this week I immediately ran (in my wheelchair, of course) to the store to get a copy.

For those of us who have experienced the symptoms of neurological Lyme disease I feel we should be able to appreciate the accurate portrayal of a person with Lyme in "LymeLife".

Photo: imdb.com

Rory Culkin and Emma Roberts in LymeLife, a movie about relationships, growing up in the 1970s, and, oh yeah, Lyme disease.

View the trailer on IMBD
View trailer on YouTube

The difficulty with showing someone with Lyme disease is that most of the symptoms are not visible to others but are ever present to the person with the disease. Director Derick Martini, has done an excellent job of depicting the struggle of the character with Lyme disease.

Martini, who is both the director and co-writer of the film said that he knew a person during his childhood who was a friend of the family. This person failed to be diagnosed correctly with Lyme disease, and doctors gave him the wrong treatment.

"It just deteriorated to the point where he was never himself, and he is still not himself.", Martini said.

But how does a director depict a character with an illness that only causes them to appear to not be themselves?

Early in the movie we learn that "Charlie" (Tim Hutton), the character in the movie who has Lyme disease, lost his job in Manhattan when he became ill, something to which many people with Lyme disease can relate. Now Charlie dresses in a suit every morning and pretends to take the train into the city to look for work. Instead, he hides in his basement all day. This is also understandable to those of us who have experienced the life changing effects of contracting Lyme and tried to hide the severity of the symptoms from those we love.

Hutton (Charlie) also has hallucinations about seeing a deer outside his house and hears a high pitched ringing in his ears constantly. This are two other types of events people with neurological Lyme often experience.

According to an interview in Cinema Blend Lyme disease is a metaphor for diseased relationships in the movie .

The film is really about relationships but the writer/director shows us some of the other experiences many people with chronic Lyme disease go through.

Charlie's wife, played by two time Emmy winner Cynthia Nixon of "Sex and the City" fame, cries in one scene, "He is just not the man I married. Why do these things always happen to me?" To which the incomparable Alec Baldwin, two time Emmy winner for his role on "30 Rock", says, "But you aren't the one with Lyme disease." This is a relationship event that all too many people with Lyme have experienced.

In another scene Rory Culkin asks Hutton what it is like to have Lyme. Hutton says, "It is like a perpetual acid trip.", an appropriate description to those of us who experienced both the '60s and neurological Lyme.

But regarding relationships, I was most impressed with the fact that the writer chose to depict "Charlie", the guy with the disease, as the only one of the four parents who was not completely self-centered.

In a final scene, only those who have experienced neurological Lyme may notice that ...

Hutton completely ignores Nixon when she is screaming at him. The phenomenon of not reacting to chaotic surroundings is common with people who have Lyme.

Earlier we had learned that Nixon, Charlie's wife, is having an affair with Baldwin when Hutton observes one of their dalliances from his hiding place in the basement. Again, seemingly no reaction from the guy with Lyme disease.

Timothy Hutton, who won an Oscar for his role in "Ordinary People" does an excellent job of depicting what a person with neurological Lyme looks like as well. Even though he is walking around, carrying on conversations and making jokes he often has the blank look on his face common to those with Lyme who feel as though their mind is constantly in a "fog".

When asked why he incorporated Lyme disease as the central focus of the movie Martini said, "I thought it was a good metaphor for what Tim Hutton’s relationship with his wife and Alec’s relationship with his wife, having a corrosive disease was a metaphor for their relationships. Which [have] become very corrosive. But they’re still funny."

"I’ve done a lot of research about Lyme disease while writing the script and beforehand. If you don’t catch it right away, and if you don’t actually treat it with the correct medication – which is heavy doses of penicillin – it erodes your brain. Aside from the aches, arthritis that it gives you, the rashes and things like that, it actually acts much like syphilis does where your brain just starts to erode.", he added.

There is an hilarious scene where Hutton tells Baldwin that the doctors thought, at first, that he had syphilis. Baldwin, who is having an affair with Hutton's wife, is visibly shaken by this news and has to clarify that it is not syphilis but Lyme disease that has infected Hutton.

The movie "LymeLife" is really a look at first love, family dynamics, divorce and how the self-centered actions of their parents affect the teenagers Rory Culkin (from the movie "Signs") and Emma Roberts (star of the movie "Nancy Drew") at a time in their life when their hormones are causing each of them to look at their childhood friend differently.

In a very tenderly directed scene between these two teenage heartthrobs we appropriately hear the heartbeat of Culkin get louder and faster as Roberts tenderly touches his neck to remove a tick. This provocative treatment of teenage arousal ends up being the most truly sensual scene in the film which garnered an "R" rating for language and sexual situations. This rating is a pity since it kept most of the dedicated young fans of Culkin and Roberts from seeing "LymeLife" in theaters.

Some of the angst of adolescence is shown when we watch Culkin's obsessive mother, played by Jill Hennessy, who won a "Gracie" for Outstanding Female Lead in a Drama Series for her role on "Crossing Jordan", tape the teenager's sleeves and pant legs each morning before sending him to school. It is little wonder that the school bully then chooses Culkin as the object of his torment and, to make matters even worse, Roberts sees this humiliation.

Roberts plays the character of the teen girl who possibly is more mature than any of the adults in the movie. With self-assured conviction she accepts her father's illness, her mother's infidelity and Culkin's awkwardness as just being a part of life.

There is also an appearance by Rory's real life older brother Kieran Culkin playing the part of, you guessed it, Culkin's older brother, who has been away at basic training with the Army.

The alternate ending, which was not shown in theaters, may shock some but I believe it accurately depicts how a person with neuroborreliosis (neurological Lyme disease) takes a longer time to react to the circumstances around them and may react inappropriately. Although the example in the movie is rather extreem it is not beyond many situations which have appeared in the news over the past few years.

I highly recommend buying this movie. First, to anyone who has or knows someone who has Lyme disease. But I also would recommend it to anyone who has ever been or plans to be married, anyone who has or plans to have children and to anyone who was ever been a teenager. In other words, everyone will enjoy this sensitive and funny movie.

"LymeLife" is now available on DVD and BluRay.

* Win an autographed poster of the movie "LymeLife"

Tell us about experiences from your own life relating to situations or characters in the movie "LymeLife" whether Lyme related or not. Everyone can relate to at least one of the characters in the movie.

Tell us about your most embarrassing moment as a teen, your first love or what it was like the first time you realized that your parents were just regular people with faults and foibles like everyone else. Did you have an overprotective parent? Send us your one sentence description of what it is like to have neurological Lyme disease.

Just send your story in an email to mac@lymeblog.com and put LymeLife in the subject.

The responses will be judged this month by members of our expert staff (like myself and my teenage grand-daughter) and the winner will receive a "LymeLife" movie poster autographed by the cast.

Additional articles:

LymeLifeTheMovie.com

LymeLife on MySpace.com

LymeLife on FaceBook.com

Independent Movie Database: Lymelife

Sundance Review: Lymelife, Cinema Blend, By Kelly West

Note: * Win an autographed poster of the movie "LymeLife"

Tell us about experiences from your own life relating to situations or characters in the movie "LymeLife" whether Lyme related or not. Everyone can relate to at least one of the characters in the movie.

Tell us about your most embarrassing moment as a teen, your first love or what it was like the first time you realized that your parents were just regular people with faults and foibles like everyone else. Did you have an overprotective parent? Send us your one sentence description of what it is like to have neurological Lyme disease.

Just send your story in an email to mac@lymeblog.com and put LymeLife in the subject.

The responses will be judged this month by members of our expert staff (like myself and my teenage grand-daughter) and the winner will receive a "LymeLife" movie poster autographed by the cast.